Cairo: A joint Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission has uncovered a number of Ptolemaic-period (332-30 BC) tombs in Al-Bahnasa archeological web site in southern Egypt’s Minya province, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities mentioned Saturday.
The tombs comprise vibrant decorations, mummies, skeletons, coffins, and distinctive artifacts, akin to amulets, coronary heart scarabs and deities, the ministry mentioned in an announcement.
An oblong stone burial effectively was discovered resulting in a cemetery containing dozens of mummies lined up facet by facet, indicating the utilization of those rooms as mass graves, it mentioned.
It’s the first time to search out human stays in Al-Bahnasa, together with 13 golden tongues and nails of mummies from the Ptolemaic period, it famous, Xinhua information company reported.
The texts and scenes of historic Egyptian characters on the tombs would enrich the understanding of the area’s historical past and make clear the non secular practices prevalent within the Ptolemaic interval, it mentioned.
On December 8, an Egyptian-Dominican archaeological mission had additionally uncovered a set of artifacts on the Taposiris Magna temple advanced west of Alexandria.
The finds, which embody statues, cash, and pottery, shed new gentle on the historical past of the positioning in the course of the late Ptolemaic interval, mentioned the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The mission found basis deposits beneath the southern wall of the temple’s outer enclosure.
Among the many most important finds are a small white marble statue of a girl sporting a royal crown and a limestone bust of a king sporting a “nemes” headdress.
In accordance with the top of the mission, the feminine statue might depict Queen Cleopatra VII, though different archaeologists have instructed it may symbolize a princess as a result of variations in facial options.
The workforce had additionally unearthed 337 cash, many bearing the picture of Cleopatra VII, together with a wide range of pottery, oil lamps, limestone vessels for storing meals and cosmetics, bronze collectible figurines, and an amulet within the form of a scarab inscribed with the phrase ‘The justice of Ra has shone’.
A bronze ring devoted to the goddess Hathor was additionally discovered.
These discoveries, together with pottery shards relationship again to the late Ptolemaic interval, point out that the temple partitions had been constructed within the first century BC.
Martinez additionally introduced the invention of the stays of a Greek temple relationship again to the fourth century BC, which was destroyed between the second century BC and the start of the AD period.
This temple is situated close to a deep tunnel system that runs from Lake Mariut in Alexandria to the Mediterranean Sea.
As well as, the mission uncovered a big cemetery containing 20 burial chambers, in addition to a tomb with three chambers beneath the traditional Taposiris Magna lighthouse.
Inside certainly one of these chambers, 9 white marble busts and several other different artifacts had been discovered, the assertion mentioned.
Preliminary underwater excavations close to the stays of the Taposiris Magna temple have additionally yielded human skeletal stays and a big amount of pottery, additional underscoring the historic and cultural significance of the positioning, in keeping with the assertion.
